Prosecutor seeks 80 years for Charles Taylor

The chief prosecutor in the trial of Charles Taylor has sought an 80-year sentence after the Liberian former president's conviction for war crimes, according to a document made public Thursday.

The prosecutor said the term would be fair given Taylor's role in arming and aiding rebels who killed and mutilated thousands in neighbouring Sierra Leone during the 1991-2001 civil war, one of the most brutal conflicts in modern history.

Appropriate
"Should the trial chamber decide to impose a global sentence, 80 years imprisonment would be appropriate," said the document, signed by the Special Court for Sierra Leone's chief prosecutor Brenda Hollis in The Hague.
"The recommended sentence is appropriate to reflect the essential role that Taylor played in crimes of such extreme scope and gravity."

Slave labour
Taylor, 64, was found guilty by the UN-backed court last week for aiding and abetting war crimes. In the first judgement against an ex-head of state by a world court since the World War II Nuremberg trials, Taylor was convicted on all 11 counts including acts of terrorism, murder and rape committed by the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) rebels, who paid him for arms with diamonds mined by slave labour.

sources: AFP/ANP [related-articles]